Digital Lifescapes

Across the globe, more leaders seek actionable insight from the customer data they've stored in huge data lakes. Worldwide spending on big data and business analytics (BDA) solutions is forecast to reach $215.7 billion in 2021 -- that's an increase of 10.1 percent over 2020, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Moreover, BDA technology investment will likely gain momentum over the next five years as the global economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for global BDA spending over the 2021-2025 forecast period will be 12.8 percent. Big Data Analytics Market Development "As executives seek solutions to enable better, faster decisions, we're seeing relatively healthy BDA spending across all industries. Leveraging data for insights into everything from internal business operations to the customer journey is top of mind and of strategic importance," said Jessica Goepfert, vice ...

High-speed internet access from home is essential to participate in the Global Networked Economy. The worldwide residential broadband service market reached a subscriber base of over 1.1 billion users in 2020 -- that's a 4 percent increase from the previous year. Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated demand for broadband connectivity. The need for high-capacity residential broadband will remain, even post-pandemic. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) will be the fastest-growing residential broadband segment to increase at a CAGR of 71 percent, exceeding 58 million subscribers in 2026. Remote working, online learning, and virtual healthcare created new demand for high-speed broadband throughout 2020. The significant increase in the use of internet-based entertainment services also prompted broadband users to upgrade, while more households without broadband access subscribed for the first time. Residential Broadband Serv...

CEOs and Line of Business (LoB) leaders seek the fastest path to meaningful digital transformation advancement. Meanwhile, investment trends in cloud computing infrastructure continue to expand the capabilities, accelerating growth across all segments within the public cloud services market. According to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner, the four key trends are cloud ubiquity, regional cloud ecosystems, sustainability or carbon-intelligent cloud, and automated programmable cloud infrastructure. "The economic, organizational and societal impact of the pandemic will continue to serve as a catalyst for digital innovation and adoption of cloud services," said Henrique Cecci, senior research director at Gartner . "This is especially true for use cases such as collaboration, remote work, and new digital services to support a hybrid workforce." Global Cloud Computing Market Development Hybrid, multi-cloud and edge computing environments are growing and setting ...

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of IT solutions in healthcare. In particular, more people have accepted teleconsultations with healthcare providers -- including medical diagnoses performed through mobile apps and/or videoconferences. For more than a year, people were unable to access healthcare resources onsite due to either their virus vulnerability or because lockdown restrictions meant that they were unable to leave their homes. Numerous governments responded to the closure of healthcare facilities by loosening previous regulatory restrictions on the practice of telemedicine and online teleconsultations. Telemedicine Services Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the number of teleconsultations performed globally will reach 765 million in 2025 -- that's rising from 422 million in 2021, representing 80 percent growth. The study found that, for teleconsultation services to become an integral element of healthcare prov...

The global pandemic changed how organizations provide information technology (IT) solutions for their knowledge worker and front-line employees that require access to software applications while working from home. It also accelerated the delivery of online education. To ensure access to those distributed IT use cases, traditional desktop and notebook PCs coexist with media tablets, Chromebooks, and a variety of smartphone devices. This device diversity also created the demand for better management. The second quarter of 2021 (2Q21) was another strong quarter for both Chromebooks and media tablets with both device categories recording growth despite a challenging year-over-year comparison. Unified Endpoint Management Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), Chromebook shipments grew 68.6 percent year-over-year with volumes reaching 12.3 million units. While this wasn't a record quarter for Chromebooks, it wasn’t far o...

The 5G edge network value chain of players has an upside opportunity to generate new revenue and gain visibility in a market that includes IT data center companies, enterprise end verticals, public cloud service providers, and content delivery network (CDN) providers. 5G edge networks will play a key role in unlocking the commercial potential of new use cases such as private wireless communications. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, 5G private networks revenue will grow from $1.6 billion in 2021 to $65 billion in 2030, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 60.1 percent. 5G Edge Network Market Development "With 5G edge networks, every enterprise engagement is a custom job. Consequently, communications service providers (CSPs) and vendors seek to establish business models that are governed by different KPIs, both technical and commercial," said Don Alusha, senior analyst at ABI Research . This opportunity stands in contrast with product-led ...

Where CEOs choose to apply cost savings is important. According to the latest market study by Gartner, organizations that balanced workforce cost savings with targeted talent investments outpaced organizations that solely focused on cost reduction. These progressive companies’ revenue rebounded from 3Q20, and they have outpaced industry peers that solely focused on cost reduction. "Successful organizations did more than target reactive cost savings to improve performance metrics in the short term," said Seyda Berger-Böcker, director at Gartner. They also optimized costs and funded new investments. This balance between cost savings and bold talent investment opportunities is vital for protecting an organization’s continued digital growth capabilities. Digital Enterprise Talent Market Development As organizations continue to emerge from the turbulence of 2020, human resource (HR) leaders charged with managing cost and budget measures should focus on three key takeaways: Compani...

In the recent past, banking relationships have traditionally been at the epicenter of the consumer economy. Banks have also been important due to their risk absorption functions for businesses and their value in helping to shape public policies. However, with new fintech startups disrupting the relationship between customers and their financial institutions, legacy banks are now required to evolve and adapt their business model much faster. As progressive government policies eroded the barriers of entry for service introductions by fintech players, several forms of traditional banking transformation have accelerated in demand and growth. Online Financial Services Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, 53 percent of the world’s population will access digital banking services in 2026 -- reaching over 4.2 billion digital banking users, that's up from 2.5 billion in 2021. The research study identified an increase in digital transformation...

The rapidly growing demand for modern enterprise software development skills and experience exceeds the current supply of qualified candidates. This increase has created a seller's market, where talented developers have the upper hand in negotiations with prospective employers. Moreover, the roles and responsibilities of developers continue to expand. International Data Corporation (IDC) survey results show that developers are the architects and visionaries of digital transformation and have an end-to-end line of sight into the processes that govern the creation of digital business solutions. This finding underscores the importance of software developers to both information technology (IT) vendors and buyers because developers have insights into how the operational efficiency of development processes can be improved. Enterprise Software DevOps Market Development "Given their role in designing, building, and executing digital strategies, developers have become indispensable to ...

The overall business technology market experienced significant growth last year.  However, 2020 was a challenging year for edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) vendors. Both market demand and deployment have slowed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to the cloud AI chipset market that experienced 68 percent year-on-year growth in 2020, the edge AI chipset market only grew by 1 percent during the same period. Regardless, the market is expected to bounce back. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, the edge AI chipset market will reach $28 billion in 2026, with a CAGR of 28.4 percent between 2021 and 2026. Edge Artificial Intelligence Market Development "The demand for edge AI is not going away anytime soon. Edge AI devices can process raw data locally, reducing the reliance on constant cloud connectivity. Consumers appreciate the enhanced user experience brought by low latency and data privacy," said Lian Jye Su, principal analyst at ABI Resear...

As the Global Networked Economy continues to evolve at an accelerated pace due to the ongoing pandemic, organizations that resist the inevitable transition to a distributed workforce will become the Neo-Luddites of the 21st century. According to the latest global market study by Gartner, 51 percent of all knowledge workers worldwide are expected to be working remotely by the end of 2021 -- that's up from 27 percent of knowledge workers in 2019 that had adopted a flexible working model. Moreover, Gartner analysts now estimate that remote workers could represent 32 percent of all employees worldwide by the end of 2021. That's a significant increase from the 17 percent of all employees in 2019. Remote Worker IT Market Development Gartner defines knowledge workers as those involved in knowledge-intensive occupations -- such as writers, accountants, or engineers. Gartner also defines a remote worker as an employee working away from their company, government, or customer office site ...

Given the current trends across the globe, organizations that depend upon the continued growth of personal vehicle ownership will need to consider a plan-B scenario. While some companies will be able to adapt, others may find that their traditional business model has been totally disrupted. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) will displace over 2.2 billion private car journeys by 2025 -- that's rising from 471 million in 2021. Juniper believes that for MaaS to enjoy widespread adoption, subscription or on-the-go packages need to offer a strong combination of transport modes along with feasible infrastructure changes, high potential for data collection and low barriers to MaaS deployments. Mobility-as-a-Service Market Development The concept of MaaS involves the provision of multi-modal end-to-end travel services through a single platform by which users can determine the best route and price according to real-time traffic ...

When, where, and how knowledge workers perform their role continues to evolve, as the COVID-19 pandemic disruption impacts the Global Networked Economy. Now, the Future of Work (FoW) model enables improved employee experiences in an environment unbounded by time or physical space. According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), FoW spending will be nearly $656 billion in 2021 -- that's an increase of 17.4 percent over 2020. "Traditional work models do not provide the agility, scalability, and resilience required by the future enterprise. This was, of course, highlighted by the ongoing health crisis. To drive growth and competitive differentiation, organizations will invest in technologies and services," said Holly Muscolino, vice president at IDC . Future of Work Market Development To facilitate the transition to a fully distributed workforce, organizations are investing in a wide range of solutions. The largest area of investment i...

Real-time locating systems (RTLS) are used to automatically identify and track the location of things in real-time within a building or other confined areas. While numerous existing RTLS technologies, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and UWB have been available, they haven't captured the market potential. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, 87 percent of enterprises said they have not yet deployed RTLS technology within their business, primarily because of the significant barriers to adoption. Most of the challenges of RTLS deployment mentioned in the ABI study point to the fragmentation of existing solutions, which impact the total cost of ownership, the complexity to implement, operate and maintain them. There are also uncertainties around reliability and maturity. RTLS Technology Market Development "All the barriers identified by the survey are currently constraining the RTLS ecosystem from developing and flourishing. Current solutions addressing this...

Business technology leadership continues to evolve as more progressive organizations apply innovative digital transformation strategies. The focus is on business outcome attainment and a culture of meritocracy that reward bold leaders. By 2024, 80 percent of technology products and services will be built by mainstream business people who are not technology professionals, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. This trend is driven by a new category of buyers outside of the traditional IT organization, occupying a larger share of the overall IT market. Today, total business-led IT spend averages up to 36 percent of the total formal IT budget, and it will continue to grow. Business-Driven App Market Development "Digital business is treated as a team sport by CEOs and no longer the sole domain of the IT department," said Rajesh Kandaswamy, vice president at Gartner . "Growth in digital data, low-code development tools and artificial intelligence (AI)-assi...

As more enterprise organizations embrace the ongoing transition to digital business transformation, CIOs and CTOs are adopting new technologies that enable the secure identification of individuals within their key stakeholder communities. A "digital identity" is a unique representation of a person. It enables individuals to prove their physical identity during transactions. Moreover, a digital identity is a set of validated digital attributes and credentials for online interactions -- similar to a person's identity within the physical world. Individuals can use a 'digital ID' to be verified through an authorized digital channel. Usually issued or regulated by a national ID scheme, a digital identity serves to identify a unique person online or offline. Digital Identity Systems Market Development Complementary to more traditional forms of identification, digital identity verification systems can enhance the authenticity, security, confidentiality, and efficiency of...

As more organizations adapt to a hybrid working model for their distributed workforce, enterprise CIOs and CTOs are tasked with delivering new productivity-enabling applications, while also seeking ways to effectively reduce IT cost, complexity, and risk. Traditional IT hardware infrastructure is evolving to more software-based solutions. The worldwide software-defined infrastructure (SDI) combined software market reached $12.17 billion during 2020 -- that's an increase of 5 percent over 2019, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The market grew faster than other core IT technologies. The three technology pillars within the SDI market are: software-defined compute (53 percent of market value), software-defined storage controller (36 percent), and software-defined networking (11 percent). "Software-defined infrastructure solutions have long been popular for companies looking to eliminate cost, complexity, and risk within their data cente...

Despite a challenging backdrop from the ongoing effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the negative impact on fifth-generation (5G) wireless supply chains has been minimal compared to the wider mobile smartphone market. This led to 5G mobile devices becoming more diverse, brought to market quickly at a variety of price points, thereby accelerating affordability and adoption. The mobile market is transitioning to 5G and many leading vendors are now exploring the low-priced 5G smartphone segment. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, 681 million 5G handsets will be shipped in 2022. Therefore, the race is on for OEMs to find that all-important level of differentiation in their flagship portfolios to help boost margins and improve market share. 5G Wireless Market Development Vendors continue to drive the adoption of new product designs, screen technology, chipsets, and camera setups -- notably within the flagship smartphone segment. Meanwhile, the leaders seek a...

As more multinational organizations adopt distributed workforce policies for their employees, CIOs are seeking superior IT and networking solutions that will scale to support fully protected hybrid working models. That includes end-user computing apps that can securely adapt to any device. Gartner reports that enterprise security and risk management spending grew by 6.4 percent in 2020 due to increased demand. Worldwide spending on information security and risk management technology and services is forecast to grow 12.4 percent and reach $150.4 billion in 2021, according to the latest market study by Gartner.  Security & Risk Management Market Development Gartner analysts believe that the strong growth rate reflects continuing demand for remote worker technologies, such as the digital workspace, and public cloud security for SaaS applications. "Organizations continue to grapple with the security and regulatory demands of public cloud and Software as a Service," said Lawre...

The global eCommerce market gained new momentum as the COVID-19 pandemic transformed many legacy business sectors. As an example, conversational commerce enables end-users of smart devices to leverage them for commercial purposes -- including retail transactions and online banking. The ecosystem for conversational commerce has evolved with many communication service providers acting as the primary point of connection between the end-users of these devices and the brands, enterprises, and financial institutions that use them. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the global conversational commerce spend over rich communication services (RCS) messaging will reach $27 billion by 2025 -- that's rising from less than $10 million in 2021. Conversational Commerce Market Development This phenomenal growth will be driven by increasing RCS support from telecom network operators and growing interest from business leaders wishing to capitalize on this emerging eCo...